Mr. Bentham was so kind as to send me dried flowers of this species and of Ae.
mollis, both inhabitants of South America. The two forms differ conspicuously,
as the deeply bifid stigma of the one, and the anthers of the other project far
above the mouth of the corolla. In the long-styled form of the present species,
the style is twice and a half as long as that of the short-styled. The divergent
stigmas of the two forms do not differ much in length, nor as far as I could
perceive in their papillae. In the long-styled flowers the filaments adhere to
the corolla close up to the anthers, which are enclosed some way down within the
tube. In the short-styled flowers the filaments are free above the point where
the anthers are seated in the other form, and they project from the corolla to
an equal height with that of the stigmas in the long-styled flowers. It is often
difficult to measure with accuracy pollen-grains, which have long been dried and
then soaked in water; but they here manifestly differed greatly in size. Those
from the short-styled flowers were to those from the long-styled in diameter in
about the ratio of 100 to 62. The two forms of Ae. mollis present a like
difference in the length of their pistils and stamens.
Aegiphila obdurata.
Flowers of this bush were sent me from St. Catharina in Brazil, by Fritz Muller,
and were named for me at Kew.
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